


Come Fix My Window

by SapphicScholar



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Light Angst, gay pining, handywoman!Kara, midvale au, thirsty Cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:00:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21927085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphicScholar/pseuds/SapphicScholar
Summary: Supercat AU: Cat takes her sabbatical in Midvale, where she meets the neighborhood's gorgeous blonde handywoman on her first day in town. After that, well, if things in her new house break a little more often than they should, who can blame her?
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Cat Grant
Comments: 19
Kudos: 418
Collections: Finishedstoriesmine, Super Santa Femslash 2019





	Come Fix My Window

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Onehellagaykid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onehellagaykid/gifts).



> Prompt: Cat is new to the small town of midvale and Kara is the extremely attractive handy woman/neighbour/contractor that cat has the hots for. so much so that cat keeps breaking stuff so kara can come round but angst gets in the way of kara finacee who cat didn't know about  
> -I know I deviated a little bit, but hopefully hit the major chords for ya! Happy holidays and hope you enjoy!
> 
> (Also cheers to anyone who catches where I stole most of my fic title from)

Cat took a deep breath as she surveyed the house. Theoretically, it was exactly what she had been expecting. A four bedroom, three bath, with a finished basement and a two-car garage. Beachfront property. Sleepy, small town with a public-school STEM program that consistently outranked every other school system in the country. But somehow touring it had never prepared her for the reality of suddenly _living_ in it. Not just vacationing in it—no, living there.

It was the right choice, even if she needed to keep reminding herself of all the reasons why. It would be good for Carter. Sweet, brilliant Carter who would thrive in such small classes, far away from National City with its overzealous tabloid reporters desperate to release yet another story about Cat Grant’s latest fling that had gone up in flames. They didn’t know that it had been over practically before it began. They had no way of knowing that Cat wouldn’t be hurt by their words and the pictures of Travis with some supermodel midlife crisis hanging off his arm. But those articles found their way into schoolyard taunts, and those paparazzi camera flashes left Carter shell-shocked every morning, no matter how hard Cat worked to keep him shielded.

So they were here. In Midvale, California. With Cat on a one-year sabbatical that she’d had in the works ever since Carter’s first year at St. Edmund’s and the early reports about bullying that she had hoped would improve in a new school.

Not that Carter was here now. No, he was off spending the summer with his father, who had insisted on additional time with his son before Cat swept him all the way up to northern California for the school year. For all the ways they’d hurt each other during their years of marriage, Cat and William had never wavered in their love for Carter, and she wouldn’t (openly) begrudge him these two months before a nearly uninterrupted year together.

But that left Cat alone with a full month of solitude that she’d once hoped would be a time that would allow her and Carter time to bond and prepare for a new year and a new school.

Instead she was sitting alone in a new house in a new town with little idea of what to do with herself.

Sure, there was that lucrative contract for a new, updated memoir that she’d signed with Random House back in May, but she had time yet for such a project, and this hardly seemed the moment to begin.

Then there were the emails to answer and the books she’d meant to read all waiting for her, but nothing seemed to hold her attention.

She didn’t even have unpacking to do, having paid a team of movers to drive her belonging up from National City and organize them according to a perfectly detailed plan under the supervision of her assistant, who had made certain no clothing was manhandled or plate left out of place.

Still, there was something to be said for getting to know a new house. So she set about walking through the rooms she’d first fallen in love with over video call, envisioning Carter in each one. There was the finished basement whose walls she’d had soundproofed for the days when he needed to do work in a completely silent environment.

The living room with the fireplace that had reminded Cat of her own childhood and cold nights spent with her father, curled up in his leather armchair reading while he worked at his desk.

There was the sun-filled kitchen with its small table, perfect for family dinners she might actually be able to attend every single night this year.

Well, while she was there it seemed only fitting to try to make something. After a first instinct to head for the coffee pot, Cat forced herself to turn to the stove instead. Tea. It was the kind of thing she could imagine herself drinking while curled up on the back porch, watching Carter play in the surf.

Only when Cat clicked on the stove, nothing happened. She scowled and tried another burner, not willing to use a broken one and kill herself with carbon monoxide poisoning on her very first night in a new town.

Yet again, nothing.

A little voice in the back of her head told Cat it was her own damn fault for daring to complain about a lack of things to do.

She pulled out her cellphone and called the realtor who’d sold her the house.

“This is Ryan Dunphy’s office, Shelly speaking, how can I help you?” came the overly chipper voice of Ryan’s assistant who Cat had gotten to know over the last few months.

“This is Cat Grant. I closed on 857 Ashbury last month and moved in this morning, but I’ve already found several issues, including a gas stove that fails to light.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Ms. Grant! Ryan’s not in the office right now, but I have the number of the local handyman we use for all of our repairs who I can call for you.”

Cat practically shuddered at the idea. “I won’t have just anyone waltzing into my home. What are the established companies? I used to use Shay’s, and they had offices all up and down the coast. Who would be the nearest contractor?”

“Er,” Shelly stammered, “well, you see, Midvale doesn’t exactly have any big firms in town. We could call one for you, but on a Friday afternoon, we probably couldn’t get them in until Monday.”

Cat gritted her teeth. “See to it that your little handyman is here within the hour. And tell him I refuse to accept shoddy work.”

“She, actually. I suppose that makes her a handywoman… Anyway, Kara Danvers lives right down the road from you, so unless she’s on another job, it shouldn’t take her too long to make it over to you. And she’s the very best! She’s probably worked in every house in Midvale.”

“Lovely,” Cat snarked.

Shelly either missed the sarcasm or chose to ignore it as she hummed in agreement. “Is there anything else I can do for you this afternoon, Ms. Grant?”

“For now, no,” Cat sighed, hanging up before the woman could make it through her tedious goodbyes.

Despite Shelly’s promises about Kara’s close proximity, Cat wasn’t expecting the knock at her door a mere ten minutes later.

And she most definitely was not expecting a gorgeous woman with long, wavy blonde hair and bright blue eyes to be the person on the other side of the door. Taking in the lines of toned muscle visible beneath the cuffed-up sleeves of a white v-neck, Cat let her gaze drop further down, spying the toolbelt slung low across slim hips.

“Kara?” Years of self-control went into ensuring her voice didn’t crack on the name as the woman flashed her a brilliant smile.

“Reporting for duty, Ms. Grant.” Another one of those blinding smiles.

“Cat—Cat is fine.”

“Oh wow, okay.” Cat’s eyebrows furrowed. “Sorry, I just—I’ve been a huge fan of you for a while now, and I can’t believe I’m meeting you. And getting to call you Cat.”

Cat preened a bit at that. “Well we aren’t in CatCo Plaza now, are we?”

Kara dipped her head in acknowledgement. “Unless you’ve secretly relocated to Midvale, nope.” A beat. “I’d heard that you were taking a sabbatical. I never really imagined you’d end up here.”

“And where would you imagine me?” Cat asked, her voice a little husky. Before Cat could internally berate herself for the open flirting, she caught sight of a light pink flush staining Kara’s cheeks. Would wonders never cease in this little town…

“Somewhere glamorous. Paris, maybe. Or on a tropical island somewhere. I mean, I like Midvale, don’t get me wrong. And the beaches are beautiful. But it’s not exactly the kind of place people go looking for.”

Despite not having explained herself to anyone but Carter’s father until that point, Cat found herself answering the unasked question. “I hope the schools here will be a better fit for my son than his old one. And the quiet out here…I think that will do him good as well.”

“It can be a nice place to think. And, yeah, the schools have really transformed into something amazing lately. Though it feels a bit conceited to say it.”

Narrowing her eyes, Cat glanced back at the woman. “Are you secretly the superintendent?”

The question pulled an easy laugh from Kara. “No, a lowly teacher.”

“Are these top-rated schools not paying their teachers enough to focus on their jobs? Teacher by day, construction worker by night? Am I going to find his principal working in the coffee shop next?”

Kara didn’t look even a little offended as she waved off the question. “Think of it as an extracurricular hobby. I do more work during the summer when school’s out, but it’s not out of necessity. I like getting to work with my hands. Meet new people. Take things apart and figure out how they work and how to get them back there again.” She shrugged. “It’s the everyday version of what we do in the school’s engineering club.”

“I suppose you’ll be seeing a fair amount of my son if you’re in the STEM wing.”

“I can’t wait to meet him. How’s he liking the new house?”

“I wouldn’t know. He’s with his father for another month.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I know how hard it can be to be all alone in a new place.”

“It’s fine.” She didn’t need sympathy from this woman who didn’t know the first thing about her.

“If you ever want to come over for dinner, my door’s always open. Metaphorically. Okay, literally, too, but I’m trying to get better at remembering to lock it before bed at least.”

Cat could only blink.

“Sorry, I’m rambling. There was something about a stove in need of fixing?”

“Yes.” Cat cleared her throat and stepped back, allowing Kara to come inside before shutting the door behind her. “The stove won’t light.”

“Gas stove?”

Cat nodded.

“Alright, do you know if they turned on the gas yet?”

“How would I know? I moved in three hours ago.”

Kara’s gaze trailed along the organized bookshelves in the living room, and her lips quirked up into a smile. “Fast unpacking.”

Cat narrowed her eyes in a half-hearted glare. “Movers.” 

“Fair. Why don’t we go look at the stove, and I’ll see what I can gather from that?”

As it turned out, going to look at the stove turned, in a matter of minutes, into Cat steadying herself against the counter as Kara effortlessly lifted the top of her stove, propping it up as she set to work investigating the burners, muttering under her breath about dirty pilot lights and flames that just needed a little coaxing and sweet talk.

Kara hummed while she worked. Normally Cat would find it grating, but Kara managed to hum on key, and it served well to disguise the hitch in Cat’s breathing when Kara’s shirt lifted up, exposing inches of toned muscle as she reached for a role of paper towels the movers hadn’t remembered to bring down from above the cabinets (and god bless their oversight).

After what felt like only a few minutes, Kara was lowering the stove top down and placing the cast iron grates back on. A click, and suddenly there was a flame flickering to life on the front left burner. Kara checked all four before turning back to Cat. “You’re all set.”

“That was fast.”

Kara shrugged. “Small problem. Easy fix. I wouldn’t want to keep you.”

“I’ve only made it through two of the rooms,” Cat blurted out before she could stop herself. “If there are other issues, which I’m beginning to think there must be with that sort of gross oversight, would you be the person to call?”

“I can be, definitely. Like I said, I enjoy the work, and I live right down the road.”

Cat nodded. “I suppose I’ll start making the rounds in the other rooms, then.”

“Do you want… I mean, do you know what to look for? If not, I could stick around, help make sure everything’s in working order. I wouldn’t want you to get a bad impression of your new home.”

Cat didn’t want to dwell on why it was that everything seemed a little lighter with the possibility that Kara would be sticking around. “I suppose it would be easier than having you drag your toolbelt up and down the block all afternoon.”

Kara hesitated, as if waiting for a more explicit invitation.

“Chop, chop, I don’t have all day.” Except she did. And she hated it.

Moving from room to room, Cat listened as Kara chattered on about life in Midvale—the best spots on the beach, the only place for delivery potstickers (why she thought Cat would care was anyone’s best guess), the good cafes to work in. She was quieter when Cat asked questions about how she’d found Midvale in the first place, mentioning spending her teenage years there before leaving for college. She opened up again when it came to how she ended up in Midvale the second time; apparently she’d returned after graduation to help out a foster mother—and ah, there must be the reason for the shift in tone—who’d ended up on crutches, feeling like she owed it to her to make her life easier “for a change.” The plan had been to stay there through the successful completion of PT, then to apply to CatCo of all places. Only Kara had started substitute teaching at Midvale High in the interim. And she’d fallen in love with the work. Before she knew it, she’d completed her teacher’s certification and returned the following year for a permanent position as a science teacher.

In turn, Cat spoke (much more briefly) about her own move to Midvale, the plans for a memoir, and the sabbatical many years in the making. She told Kara a bit more about Carter and the challenges he’d faced in school, the way he’d been dismissed by peers and certain teachers alike. Even though Kara had never met him, a look of such fierce, protective loyalty flashed in her eyes that Cat was momentarily rendered speechless.

But then there was a squeaky door hinge to be dealt with, and Kara busied herself with the work, hiding behind the door long enough for the moment to pass by uninterrogated. Not that Cat forgot. No good journalist simply forgot facts and reactions that seemed out of place. But she could wait for a better moment to press Kara on it.”

By the time they’d made it upstairs, there had been only a burned out lightbulb, a squeaky hinge, and the original dirty pilot lights to deal with. But Cat refused to feel guilty for keeping Kara with her. The conversation flowed easily enough, and there was no denying how attractive the woman was, exuding a kind of quiet authority each time she announced what would need to be checked in a given room.

Then they were in Cat’s bedroom, and Kara was checking to make sure the bedframe had been assembled correctly, and Cat was struck with vivid mental images of a distinctly less-clothed Kara suggesting all the other ways they could test out Cat’s bed.

“Cat?”

Cat blinked, slowly, ignoring the look of concern in Kara’s eyes.

“You okay?”

“Fine,” she snapped.

“Sorry, I, uh, I was just saying that things seem okay and asking where we should go next.”

Cat barely paid attention to anything being said in the guest bedroom or the office, and it was only the fact that she wanted Carter’s bedroom to be in perfect order that had her focusing back in on the tasks at hand there.

Eventually, after two checked bathrooms and several increasingly explicit fantasies involving Kara and that white t-shirt and the shower whose water pressure had been so diligently checked, there were no reasons left to keep Kara in the house.

“Well,” Cat managed, clearing her throat before speaking again. “Thank you for your help.”

“Anytime!” Cat wondered just how true that was. “And like I said, if you ever want to come over for dinner, feel free to let me know.”

“I wouldn’t want to impose.” She tried not to read into the way Kara’s face seemed to fall. “After all, you’ve just sacrificed an afternoon of your time. The least I could do would be to cook dinner for you instead.”

Kara’s head shot up at that. “Really?”

“Is it so surprising that I might know how to cook?”

“No, not at all. You’re Cat Grant. You can probably do anything,” Kara said with a faint hint of a laugh in her words. “It’s just—you really don’t have to do that. Ryan’s already paying me for fixing the stove.”

“I’m not going to force you to—”

Kara waved a hand in the air, cutting Cat off. Cat wondered what her employees would say if they realized Kara was still living after that. “It’s not that! I’d love to have dinner with you. Your place or mine, either way. Really. I just don’t want you to feel like you’re obligated as…as payment or something.”

“One thing you should know about me is that I do very few things I don’t want to do, and that short list only includes holidays with my mother, the annual CatCo talent show fundraiser, and the yearly St. Edmund’s PTA bake sale.”

“A bake sale is that bad?” Kara asked with a bark of incredulous laughter.

“A bake sale led by the self-righteous PTA president Sheila Bailey is.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it.”

“A solid life lesson many of my employees would do well to learn.”

The corners of Kara’s mouth twitched. “Then I should probably believe you when you say it’s not an imposition, huh?”

“Look at you: learning.”

“Guess I’m not the only teacher in the room.”

Rolling her eyes, Cat brought the conversation back to dinner. “Next Friday? I should have enough time to make it out to a grocery store and settle into the house by then.” If they’d been back in National City, where Cat was on surer ground, she’d have pushed for the very next night, but they weren’t, and if this was to become anything…fun, she wanted time to do her own investigating first. Learn a bit more about the teacher/handywoman with a dazzling smile and muscles that looked like they were sculpted from marble. Soft, warm, very touchable marble.

\---

Cat didn’t have to wait long before running into Kara again.

The next morning, after deciding that a bit of exercise couldn’t hurt—there was only so much her Lexapro could do when she was already depriving herself of her son, her work, and the city she’d made her own—Cat set off down what seemed to be a straightforward loop around town. She’d only made it around the first curve of her street before she heard her name being called out. And there was Kara, somehow looking gorgeous in a neon pink workout top that Cat suspected had been plucked out of the bargain bin at some half-rate sporting goods store.

“I didn’t know you ran, Cat!”

“Mm, well, as you can see I’m here. Running.”

Kara nodded and jogged to keep pace with her. “Do you have a route in mind? I just got back, but I could totally show you some of the best places.”

Cursing herself for being slightly breathless already, Cat tried for nonchalant. “Figured I could see the full town if I just followed this road down to Forrest, then along Bayside.”

“Ah, yeah. It’s a fine route if that’s what you want, but if you don’t mind getting your shoes a little dirty, I can show you someplace a lot prettier.”

“I suppose I shouldn’t pass up that offer.”

And then Kara was off, setting a quick pace that Cat, who hadn’t seen much of her personal trainer in the weeks leading up to the move, struggled to keep up with. Not that she would admit it.

As luck would have it, everyone in town seemed to know Kara, which meant they were frequently slowing down so that Kara could call out her greetings—always with some thoughtful question that revealed a deeper knowledge about all the Midvale residents than Cat had possessed about even her next-door neighbors back in National City.

After the third time it happened, Kara briefly turned towards Cat. “Sorry, do you want me to introduce you around? I figured you might not want to stop long enough, but I could definitely—”

“This is fine.” There was no way in hell Cat was going to make the acquaintance of every single person in town in workout gear, no matter how expensive it was, and no makeup.

“Okay! Just let me know if you change your mind.”

Soon enough they made it to a wooded area, and Kara ducked off the road, edging down a steep incline before reaching a little-used towpath. “It hasn’t rained in a few days,” Kara called over her shoulder, “so it shouldn’t be muddy.”

The air down there was different—fuller, somehow, and several degrees cooler. It hung heavy with the smell of moss and trees and florals, and any lingering sounds of the small town’s morning rush hour traffic seemed to have disappeared behind the wall of trees. All Cat could think was that Carter would love it.

“I found this spot when I was in high school,” Kara said, not even close to breathless despite the punishing pace. “I used to get…overwhelmed sometimes. But down here I felt like I could think, you know?”

Cat hummed in understanding and forced herself to run a little faster to keep close to Kara.

“The only people I let know about this spot are my environmental biology students,” she added with a laugh.

“And me.”

That stopped Kara in her tracks, and Cat, having nearly caught up, didn’t have enough time to stop before crashing into a body that felt like it could have been made of stone—firm and immovable.

“Shoot, sorry!” Suddenly the body seemed to be softening as Kara spun around, her hands clutching at Cat’s arms as her gaze roved up and down, checking to make sure Cat was okay. “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to—I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Cat huffed, ignoring the way her whole body seemed to heat up under Kara’s close scrutiny. What she wouldn’t give to have it be in a different context…

“But you’re not hurt?”

“Not that I can tell, no.”

Apparently that wasn’t good enough for Kara, who was suddenly crouching down and testing for bumps or bruises or bone breaks—Cat hadn’t the faintest idea, every coherent thought having rushed out of her mind at the feeling of warm, slightly calloused hands running up and down her body.

Eventually Kara was satisfied. “You seem okay. I’m still really sorry.” When she looked up, she noticed the way Cat’s cheeks had flushed with heat. “Oh gosh, and then I didn’t even think to ask before I checked you for injuries!” Kara dropped her head into her hands.

“It’s fine. Stand up.”

Orders seemed to snap her out of it, and Kara quickly stood.

“The only thing currently bothering me is the feeling of lactic acid building up in my legs before I’m done with my run.”

“Right. Yeah, it’s not much further now. This spot not even my students get to see.”

Kara’s pace was slightly slower for the next leg of their run, and Cat soon felt in control of her body once more.

“Right here,” Kara finally murmured, turning off the path and following the sound of running water down to a winding creek. The creek, however, didn’t seem to be the point, and it took Cat a moment to notice the small picnic table. It was roughly hewn, the craftsmanship somewhat sloppy, but Cat was drawn to the swirling lines carved into the top, and it took her a moment to realize she was looking down at a landscape etching of the forest that surrounded them.

“This is gorgeous,” she said, one finger tracing along the careful lines. “How did you ever find it?”

When she glanced back at Kara, Kara looked sheepish, running a hand along the back of her neck. “I made it. A while ago.”

“In high school?”

Kara nodded.

“Construction worker. Science teacher. Artist. What’s next? You’re going to tell me you’re also the town’s poet laureate?”

The question drew a full-bellied laugh from Kara, and Cat found herself delighted by the sound of it, by the way it eased any hint of tension that had been gathering in Kara’s shoulders. “Trust me, no one wants to hear my poetry. My freshman year English teacher basically told me as much after our creative writing unit.”

“I suppose everyone has to have one flaw.”

“Even you, Cat?”

If it were anyone else, Cat would say, without a doubt, that those words were meant to be flirty. But she just didn’t know with Kara. So she tossed her hair over her shoulder and flashed a smirk in Kara’s direction. “As luck would have it for you, I’ve been told that I lack the proper appreciation for poetry.”

Cat was graced with yet another laugh from Kara, and it made Cat’s heart race like she was back in high school, gushing about the latest teen heartthrob with her best friend, who, in retrospect, she liked a whole lot more than any celebrity.

“I was really scared that they might have torn it down while I was gone, but every break I kept coming back to find it still standing.”

“Good memories here?”

After a moment, Kara nodded. “Some.” For a minute, she looked lost in thought, and Cat swore she glimpsed something a lot like pain in those big blue eyes. “I should get you back. I’m sure you have plans for your first full day here.”

Cat nodded, even though for what felt like the first time in her life she really didn’t.

Rather than leading them back the way they’d come, Kara carved a path through the woods until the trees began thinning, finally crossing a road and reaching the beach Cat had yet to take the time to properly appreciate in person. “This is me,” Kara said, gesturing over at a light blue house. “And you’re down just around the bend.”

“Right.”

“Thanks for coming with me. It was…nice, getting to share that spot with someone else. I haven’t—not in a while.”

Swallowing heavily, Cat nodded. “It really is beautiful.” Just like the woman who’d made it.

“See you Friday!”

The thought of waiting six whole days sounded like torture, and Cat resolved to find some other way to bump into Kara before then.

\---

The answer came to Cat in a flash the next morning as she stumbled across the power breaker in her search for the laundry room. If something was broken…well…

A nudge of her shoulder was all it took to trip the breaker, and Cat grinned to herself as the lights flickered out.

A few minutes later, Cat was sighing into the phone. “I don’t know what it could be. I was getting ready to do my laundry, and suddenly—no power.”

“Oh no! I’ll be over soon, okay? And if it seems like things won’t be back on for a while, you can just come back to my place. I’ve got an office where you can work.”

Cat already knew it wouldn’t be necessary, but she thanked Kara anyway.

By the time Kara made it over, Cat had a plate of snacks set out on the kitchen counter and had changed into a particularly flattering pair of jeans.

As she led Kara into the house, Cat made a point of adding a little extra sway to her hips and was rewarded with a loud crash as Kara collided with the edge of the doorway.

Clearing her throat, Kara forced her eyes back up to Cat’s face. “I, uh, you know, now that I look a little more closely at this doorframe, I think it could use some repairs. There’s some, uh, serious splintering here. Probably just from age, you know?”

Well, if Kara was going to add to the list of fake problems, Cat certainly wasn’t going to stop her.

And even though the electrical issue was a quick fix, Kara lingered over the snacks, eating more cheese in the course of ten minutes than Cat would have believed possible.

“I promised Mrs. Benerick that I’d come clean out her gutters this afternoon, but if you’re around tomorrow, I could come by and fix that old doorframe of yours.”

“For you? I think I can make myself available.”

Kara’s cheeks flamed, and Cat added another tick into the “Probably Interested” column.

\---

The next day, Cat wore a low-cut blouse and watched as Kara tripped over her own feet straight into Cat’s foyer.

Not that Cat herself was much better when Kara stripped down into a tanktop after half an hour of work under the high midday sun. Coming out with a glass of ice water, Cat had gone and asked Kara if she wanted “an arm with anything,” before cursing under her breath and correcting, “I mean a hand. Is there anything I can help with?”

Kara had looked more than a little pleased, and Cat swore she saw her flex as she reached out for the water, letting her fingers brush across Cat’s. Not that Cat would complain.

\---

The next day, Cat called Kara. “You mentioned cleaning Mrs. Benerick’s gutters, and I realize we never even checked the exterior of the house. I saw rain in the forecast, and it would be wholly unacceptable to find the place flooding with water come Thursday night.”

Kara chuckled but agreed to come over.

The game of sexual tension brinksmanship continued as Kara pulled her t-shirt up to wipe off her face after checking the “structural integrity” of Cat’s deck, leaving Cat struggling to come up with words in the face of more defined muscles than anyone who ate that much cheese had a right to.

\---

The next morning Cat got her revenge by going for a run right past Kara’s house in a tiny black sports bra. If she had to make a couple of laps before she actually ran into the woman, so be it. She could chalk it up to an extra long workout. And it was all worth it when Kara squeaked out a, “Wow,” at the sight, before promptly dashing back inside.

\---

On Thursday, as the promised thunderstorms rolled in, Cat was surprised to hear a quiet but persistent knocking at her front door. For the first time since she’d moved in, she didn’t have plans to see Kara, and she had yet to find something convenient to break for the day.

Swinging open the door, Cat was prepared to shoo away whomever had disturbed her evening plans of sitting around and trying not to fantasize about Kara wearing her toolbelt and nothing else. Or perhaps wearing something else made of leather around those hips…

“It’s really not a good—” Cat cut herself off as she glanced up and saw Kara standing there, tucked beneath an oversized umbrella with a backpack on and a large pizza box in hand. “Kara?”

“Um, hi.” Kara waved. “Sorry, I should have called first.”

“Nonsense.” Everyone else? Absolutely. But for Kara? There was no need. “Come in, come in.”

Pulling down her umbrella and shaking it out, Kara ducked into the doorway, toeing off her rainboots to avoid making a bigger mess.

“Can I…get you anything?” Cat asked.

“I really hate being alone in thunderstorms.”

Cat nodded slowly.

“I thought—well, it’s your first week here. Maybe you also don’t like thunderstorms. But you might not know anyone else yet.” She cleared her throat, looking down at the ground. “This was a bad idea.”

“How can I tell you that you’re wrong when I’m still not even sure what the idea _is_.”

“I got pizza.”

“Pizza hasn’t touched my lips in a decade, but other than that I’m still failing to see what has made this plan so awful.”

“A decade?” Kara’s eyes went wide. “Okay, Anthony’s isn’t, like, the best pizza on the planet, but it’s really, really good. The secret is to order it with double cheese.” Cat took a deep breath in through her nose and tamped down on the surge of jealousy over the fact that Kara could, apparently, eat double cheese pizzas regularly and still look like _that_.

“So…the plan is pizza?”

“I also brought Scrabble. I remember reading that you used to like playing it in your first memoir. I guess maybe I should’ve waited to see what you talked about liking in this new memoir, but it’s not out yet, or even written yet, so then I would have waited a really long time, and at that point, the thunderstorms would be long past over, and—”

Lips twitching up into a smile, Cat place a hand on Kara’s shoulder. “Breathe. Now bring the pizza over to the table.”

Kara nodded, quick to follow instructions as she traipsed into the kitchen and placed the box on the countertop. Pulling open the lid, she grinned as steam filled the air. “Perfect, it’s still hot!”

Cat let out a little hum of acknowledgment as she gathered plates and cups. “Do you want anything to drink? Wine? Water?”

“Water’s fine, thanks.”

After getting Kara’s drink, Cat paused for a moment before opening a bottle of red and pouring herself a glass. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t offered.

Once they were settled at the table, Kara pushed a plate with a large slice of—true to its word—extra cheesy pizza towards Cat. “I even let you have a piece with a bubble, so no trying to cut it in half or something.”

For the first time in years, Cat bit into a slice of pizza that wasn’t masquerading as an artisanal flatbread, practically moaning at the taste.

Kara’s mouth hung open, her slice of pizza left stranded a few inches away from her lips. “I, um, you like it?” she asked, voice cracking over the words.

“It isn’t horrendous.”

With a laugh, Kara shook her head and finally turned her attention back to her own pizza. “If you ever end up at Anthony’s, maybe once Carter’s moved in, be sure to tell him Kara Danvers referred you. He’ll give me another free pizza!”

“So all of this was just for free pizza?”

“No!” Kara’s shoulders hunched up a little as she stared down at her plate. “I got—I don’t know, I got used to seeing you every day. Having the company.”

“I was with you on that run. You know everyone here.”

“Yeah…but you’re different.”

“Different how?” Cat pressed, shifting into journalist mode and hoping Kara wouldn’t call her on it.

“You don’t treat me like you’ve known me since I was some weird kid who just showed up one day.”

“I went back to the town where I grew up after I finished college, too.”

“But that’s Metropolis, Cat. There are, like, a million people there.”

“Closer to 8 million, actually, but that’s not the point. I simply mean that I understand what it’s like to come back as a new person to an old place. To be surrounded by old expectations when you’d like to think that you’ve changed over the years.”

Kara nodded, her gaze still focused on her plate as she picked at a third slice of pizza. “And it’s not like I don’t like it here. I really love my work, and I love getting to give these kids a better experience in school than the one I had, but sometimes it feels like I’m…stuck. I thought I’d be like my sister and get away from Midvale, but I’m right back here, living a mile away from Eliza—my foster mom,” she clarified in response to the unasked question—“and now I’m just a professionalized version of the weird kid who used to know too many science facts and collected all sorts of weird Earth technology to take apart in the basement and learn how it worked.”

Swallowing a gasp as things began clicking into place, Cat reached out a hand instead, curling it around Kara’s free one. “You don’t look stuck to me. You look like a beautiful, brilliant woman who’s making life better for a whole generation of students. Plus,” she added with a small smirk, “you’re inside almost everyone’s house with your second job. If that isn’t a great way to find the skeletons hiding in all of their closets, I don’t know what is.”

A watery chuckle finally loosened some of the tension in the air. “You don’t want to know the half of what I’ve seen.”

“Oh, but I think I do. What better way to get to know my new neighbors than learning the absolute worst things about them?”

Kara kept her mouth sealed, but the conversation meandered to other topics as Kara chatted about Eliza and her sister Alex and the lesson plans she’d already started updating for the coming school year. When Cat talked about Carter and the concerns she had for him, Kara managed to offer reassurances without sounding dismissive—a balancing act Cat’s ex-husband had never managed.

Once the pizza was gone, they migrated into the living room, and Kara lit the fire while Cat set up the Scrabble board.

After three games (and one eked-out win by Kara), they ended up sitting side-by-side on the sofa, both watching the flames flicker and dance in the fireplace.

“I’m really glad you’re here,” Kara whispered.

“I’m glad my stove wasn’t working that first day,” Cat admitted, shifting a little closer to Kara. She felt the hesitant brush of Kara’s pinky against hers and turned towards her, sweeping her thumb across Kara’s cheekbones. “Tell me if I’m misreading things,” she whispered, only a breath of space left between them.

And then those lips she’d been thinking about for days were finally on hers, strong arms curling around her and pulling her even closer. Within what felt like moments, the awkwardness of all first kisses was giving way to something deeper as lips parted and hands grabbed at whatever they could reach.

“Cat,” Kara whined, her voice thick with want.

“ _Fuck_.” Cat swung a leg over Kara’s lap, grinding against those abs as her fingers curled into Kara’s hair. She moaned as Kara’s hands dropped down to her hips then lower, dragging Cat forward as she rocked her hips up. Cat didn’t bother swallowing the needy whimper as Kara’s strong hands dug into her ass. But suddenly she found herself back on her own side of the couch, and Kara on the other side of the room, panting slightly, her lips pink and kiss-swollen.

“I—we shouldn’t,” Kara stammered.

“We can slow down,” Cat insisted, even though her whole body felt like it was burning, her every thought reduced to little more than _Kara, Kara, Kara_.

“It’s late.” Kara wasn’t holding Cat’s gaze, and she scuffed at the carpet with her socked feet.  
“I should go home.”

She was moving before Cat could offer up promises about staying on her own side of the couch and doing nothing more indecorous than smiling at Kara (surely the things she was doing to the woman in her mind didn’t count).

By the time Cat caught up with her, Kara had already stuffed her feet back into her boots and had slung her backpack over her shoulders.

“Kara, wait!” Cat called, but she was already gone.

\---

Deciding that Kara, who was almost definitely an alien from another planet, might need more time to adjust to these sorts of things, Cat let Friday pass by without trying to contact her.

On Saturday, Cat sent a brief text message: “Thank you for the pizza and Scrabble on Thursday. I still have your game if you’d like me to drop it off. It would be good to talk.”

After a full day had gone by without any response, Cat called Kara’s phone number, drumming her fingers against the countertop as it rang and rang and rang before going to voicemail. “Kara,” Cat sighed. “I didn’t mean to pressure you into anything. I would like to see you again. Besides,” she added as an afterthought, “I’ve found an outlet that doesn’t work in my bathroom.” It should be easy enough to break it.

On Sunday morning, Cat went out for a long run, lingering by Kara’s house for a few extra minutes to no avail.

A few houses further down, however, she ran into one of the many neighbors Kara had called out to on their first run together.

“Good morning!” the woman called out, waving to Cat, who looked behind her to see if, perhaps, there was someone else around.

Figuring it wouldn’t do to be rude during her first month in the new town—not before Carter got here and settled in—Cat managed a tight smile. “Hello.”

“You bought Mrs. Jorgenson’s old house, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Cat nodded.

“I’m Peggy,” she said, walking further down the driveway. “Nice to meet you.”

“Cat.”

“Oh, I know that! We all know that.”

Cat grimaced.

“I noticed that you’ve made friends with Kara. That’s good. She needs someone to keep her from working too hard.” Apparently Cat only had to nod to keep Peggy talking. “But maybe now that Mike is back in town, that’ll change for a whole other reason,” she added with a smile and a wink, as if Cat should know what she meant and be equally happy about it.

“Mike?”

“That handsome young man Kara brought home from college. I can’t tell you how sad we were when it seemed like the wedding was going to be postponed indefinitely.”

“Wedding?” Cat managed, feeling as if the word itself was choking her, leaving her short of breath.

“Mhmm. If you see her around, let her know I’ve got some fresh apple pie baked, and she and Mike should stop by for a slice at any point.”

Cat felt like she was going to be sick. On Wednesday, the news would have been unfortunate, but bearable. Back then she could have lied to herself, insisted the attraction was only physical. She wanted to sleep with Kara. So what? There were plenty of people Cat had slept with and would sleep with in her life, and losing one didn’t have to be the end of the world. But then Kara had gone and shown up at her doorstep with good intentions and gooey cheese pizza and regrets and hopes and promises, and Cat couldn’t tamp down on the realization that the physical attraction was quickly giving way to something deeper—to the kind of romantic, naïve feelings she assumed were long lost to the wisdom of age and divorce. And now…now…

Cat ran, pushing herself faster than even Kara had run, letting her feet follow that same path. She didn’t want to see any more neighbors, didn’t want to hear another word about how very happy they all were for Kara and the apparent love of her life, her _fiancé_.

Ducking into the woods was a relief, but not quite the breathtaking moment it had been days ago when she was sharing it with someone else. She forced herself to go slowly on the incline, not needing a broken ankle on top of everything else. But then she was on the towpath, and even as her sneakers slipped and slopped in the mud, she couldn’t bring herself to slow down. The burn of her muscles was the perfect complement to the pain of everything else.

“Babe, c’mon.”

Cat froze at the sound of a voice she didn’t recognize, followed by one she did.

“Mike,” Kara sighed.

Glancing around, Cat tried to figure out if there was another path to get out of these godforsaken woods. Maybe if she just edged around quietly… The picnic table was out of the way. And _god_ she’d been so foolish to think that Kara’s sharing it with her had been something special, the kind of experience she didn’t share with just anyone.

She froze at the sight of some man—Mike, she assumed—reaching out and clasping Kara’s hand in his own. Leaning forward and—

“Cat?”

Cat stumbled slightly.

“Hey, we’re kind of in the middle of something,” Mike said, making a shooing motion with his hand.

“I can see that,” Cat practically growled. “If you’ll move to the side I’ll be on my way.”

“Cat, wait!” Kara called out, but Cat wasn’t about to do this. Not in front of him. Not when she was splattered with mud and drenched in sweat. So she ran, letting her ragged breathing drown out the sound of their conversation.

She focused on her feet, listening as they hit the ground, one after another, again and again until finally she was at the road, bending at the waist and gulping in air as she waited for the light to cross.

“Cat!”

The sound of Kara’s voice was enough to get her moving again, darting out in a gap in the traffic to get to the beach. Rather than risk walking down past Kara’s house, Cat toed off her shoes and socks and jogged down to the water’s edge, letting it wash over her feet.

By the time Kara had caught up with her, Cat’s mask of calm, cold professionalism had slid firmly back into place.

“Cat, I’ve been trying to talk to you.”

“No, I don’t think you have. In fact, I have several unanswered text messages and calls that would suggest the exact opposite.”

“Just now, I mean.”

“I don’t think your fiancé would be all too happy about that. So run along back to Marc now. No need to explain what you meant on Thursday. It is abundantly clear to me now that it was a mistake that never should have happened.”

“Cat, please. Please, just listen?”

It was only the note of quiet desperation in Kara’s voice that made Cat slow down. “What?” she snapped.

“It’s not what it looks like.”

“Really? Because your neighbor told me it was exactly what it looked like.”

Even filled with tears, Kara’s eyes burned with anger when she rounded on Cat. “What happened to the Cat who understood something about coming back to a place after you’ve changed?”

“I don’t—”

“Yeah, Mike and I were together. For a while. I brought him home on breaks in college, let him meet my family and neighbors. He proposed after graduation.” Cat swallowed back the surge of jealousy—hot and bitter. “But I never said yes. I ended up having to come back for Eliza, and then I—I made a life for myself here. Mike wasn’t happy about that, and I thought I made it clear that I wasn’t leaving Midvale, not even for him. Apparently he thought he could just…wait it out.”

“But on Thursday… You ran. You said we shouldn’t have.”

“Cat!” Kara’s voice was a half-hysterical laugh. “I didn’t want to have sex on your couch before we’d even gone on a proper date! I didn’t want to do anything like that before we’d talked about what it might mean for me to be both Carter’s teacher and your…something. I would have told you that if you’d just asked!”

Cat blinked slowly, the world and all the events of the past few days slowly reorienting themselves around this new axis. “But you wouldn’t answer any of my calls or messages.”

At that, Kara rubbed at the back of her neck. “At first I didn’t know what to say. And then Mike showed up at Eliza’s house, and suddenly I had this brand new, urgent issue to deal with. I figured I’d be able to explain after I dealt with that. I had hoped that you’d understand, that you might even get it.”

With a sigh, Cat dropped down to the sand, burying her face in her hands. “I’m sorry,” she finally managed. “And you should know I don’t give apologies lightly.” She took in a shuddering inhale. “I should have given you a chance to explain first. It was…seeing you _there_ with _him_ …it hit me how much I’d come to care about you in such a short amount of time without even realizing what was happening.” She shook her head, sounding almost angry about it. “That hasn’t happened to me in a very, very long time.”

“I care about you too, Cat. A lot.”

“Enough to come pick up the Scrabble board I’ve had waiting beside my door for days?”

Kara’s lips quirked up into a smile. “Enough to get it _and_ bring you back to my place for a homecooked meal. A proper date—advanced invitation and all.”

“Let it not be said that Kara Danvers doesn’t know how to romance a woman.”

“I think my sister would definitely say that, but clearly she doesn’t know what she’s talking about if I’ve managed to land a date with Cat freakin’ Grant.”

“And get an apology out of her, no less.”

Kara reached out and squeezed Cat’s hand. “I, uh, I need to go see Mike off. Make sure that he really knows it’s over this time around. But tonight? I can pick you up at 7.”

Cat nodded, trying not to look too giddy, though she suspected she failed, if the way Kara’s eyes lit up was any indication.

\---

That night, at exactly 6:59pm, Kara knocked on Cat’s door, greeting her with a small bouquet of flowers Cat suspected might have been homegrown.

Scrabble board in one hand, Cat’s hand in the other, Kara walked them down the street to her house, leading Cat into the kitchen where she’d spread out a tablecloth and even lit candles.

“You didn’t have to go to all this trouble,” Cat said, although a part of her loved every second of it.

“I know. But I wanted to.”

Over dinner, Kara talked a little more about Mike and how he’d made her feel good about herself after Alex had moved down to National City, leaving her further away from her sister, the one person who’d always been her anchor, than she’d ever been.

In turn, Cat opened up a bit about her past relationships—the parts that hadn’t been splashed all over the tabloids, at least. They talked about Carter, about how important he was to Cat, about the way she wanted to give him a new chance at happiness and success in Midvale. But, before Kara could pull away again, Cat had reached for her hand. “That doesn’t mean I can’t date. Or have a life. It might mean having you spend time with him first, let him warm up to you, but he’s perceptive. I don’t think we’ll need to wait long before he’s figured it out on his own.” After a moment she cleared her throat and added, “If things work out.”

“I, for one, hope they do,” Kara whispered.

From there, they moved into lighter topics, and Cat listened as Kara chatted about the grant Midvale High had gotten to fund a series of career workshops for the students. She wondered if Cat might be willing to come speak on a panel—just because their school had come into prominence for its STEM program didn’t mean they were going to abandon the humanities, after all. And Cat told Kara all about the plans for the new memoir, which would cover the founding and growth of CatCo into an international media empire.

Before they could even get to dessert, Kara took Cat in her arms as they gathered the dishes and kissed her soundly—an apology and a promise all in one.

After dessert, Kara, who had talked at length about her workshop, took Cat downstairs for a tour of it. And there, listening to Kara wax poetic about the wonders of music boxes, surrounded by trinkets and gadgets in various states of disrepair and reassembly, Cat couldn’t resist. She leaned forward and tangled her hands with Kara’s, pulling her forward. “Kiss me.”

And Kara happily obliged, pulling back only once to ask: “Did you start breaking things to have a reason to invite me over?”

Cat silenced her with a heated kiss. There was no need to respond to questions they both knew the answers to.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on Twitter and Tumblr @sapphicscholar


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